Fly540, which has bases in East Africa in Kenya and Tanzania, is now embarking on a new expansion towards West Africa, with a view to establishing bases in Angola and Ghana. Routes News reports.
Air China is sizing up a possible take-over of regional carrier Shenzhen Airlines. What does the national carrier stand to gain from this possible acquisition? Routes News finds out.
German-based tour operator GTI Travel is to launch a new charter airline called German Sky on April 1. This will initially fly between Düsseldorf and Antalya and operate alongside Antalya-based charter carrier Sky Airlines, which is owned by parent company, Turkey's Kayi Group. Routes News reports.
Warsaw Chopin Airport is among the largest airports in Central and Eastern Europe. It handled a little over 550,000 passengers in January 2010 – a 4.2% year-on-year increase- and has capacity for more than 10 million passengers. The Airport has a comprehensive incentives scheme for airlines and a strong marketing approach.
Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport (RZE) is the gateway to the Podkarpackie region in South Eastern Poland – home to the expanding 'Aviation Valley'. The airport serves a catchment area of over 2.1 million people and its location attracts passengers from neighbouring Ukraine and Slovakia. 2009 was the airport's most successful year to date, posting traffic increases of 18.5%.
Overwhelmed with high staff costs, an expensive Madrid hub, intense pressure on its short-haul network from budget carriers, and announcing record (net) operating losses last year of €273 million, Iberia has decided that a new regional start-up with a lower-cost base would make sense to reduce the cost of its short-haul operations, which in turn feeds its long-haul network. Can it work? Iberia’s international spokesperson, Consuelo Arias, shares the company’s vision with Routes News.
Latvian national carrier airBaltic is the largest airline at its main base at Riga International Airport and at its secondary hub in Vilnius, while it is steadily increasing capacity from its Tallinn base.
Ryanair is making its first foray into Greece with six new seasonal summer routes. The Greek Government is, meanwhile, struggling to contain its €30 billion budget deficit. So why is the time ripe for the Irish LCC to move into the Mediterranean country? Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara speaks to Routes News.
Ghana’s capital Accra gained two new international services this week from Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines. Virgin’s thrice-weekly service will be competing on the route with British Airways’ daily flights. Routes News takes a look at the West Africa market and in particular Virgin’s role there.
Airline alliance activity is at an all-time high, with barely a week passing with out an announcement of a carrier joining, exiting or switching alliances. A man at the centre of much of this alliance activity is Star Alliance’s vice president for business development, Horst Findeisen. He shared his thoughts on what alliance membership offers airlines and what carrier bankruptcy means for the alliance with Routes News.
Originally based in Sharjah in the UAE, Air Arabia established itself in Morocco last year through its Air Arabia Maroc start-up and it is trying to repeat this in Egypt during 2010. In April it will launch Air Arabia Egypt, a joint venture with Travco, the major Middle Eastern tourism and hospitality group. Routes News examines the evolution of Air Arabia and what it hopes to achieve in the Egypt market.
Kingfisher Airlines announced new routes from Delhi to London Heathrow and Hong Kong in the past week, along with plans to join oneworld in the second half of this year. Routes News examines its significance.
